What it is
A Template is a saved, reusable message, Email, WhatsApp, or SMS, that you design once and reuse across campaigns, automations, and API sends. Every template gets a unique ID (e.g. tpl_11ztntjd), lives under Templates in the sidebar, and tracks its own send history and performance over time
Why it matters
Some messages you send over and over, a welcome email, an OTP, a low-balance warning, a delivery confirmation. Building these from scratch every time wastes effort and risks inconsistency. A template solves this once: design it, save it, and reuse it anywhere — in a campaign, triggered automatically by an event, or called directly from the API with template: "tpl_xxxx" and a set of variables. Convert even auto-generates some transactional templates for you (like "Sender ID approved" or "WhatsApp disconnected") so key account notifications go out without extra setup.
Before you start
Have ready:
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A clear idea of what the message is for and which channel it belongs to (Email, or WhatsApp/SMS)
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Your brand details if building an email, company name, tagline, logo — since these appear in the footer
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Any personalization you want to include, like a first name or order number
How to set it up: step by step
Step 1: Click "Create template"
From the Templates page, click Create template in the top right. Or, if you know you want an email specifically, go to the Email tab in the sidebar first, then click New email template.
Step 2: Name your template
Give it a clear internal name (e.g. "Welcome Message") in the field at the top, this is what you'll recognize it by later.
Step 3: Build the email with blocks
In the Visual email builder, click Add block to see your content options:
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Text: paragraphs, headings, lists
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Image: with flexible spacing
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Button: a call to action
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Divider: a visual separator
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Container: a grouped content area
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HTML: paste your own raw email HTML
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Footer: company, legal, and social links
Click any block to add it to the canvas, then click it again to edit its content directly in the right-hand panel.
Step 4 — Edit your text and personalize it
Select a Text block to open the Text editor, format with bold, italic, underline, lists, or links, and type {{ to insert a personalization variable (like {{first_name}}). Adjust alignment, font, size, and weight from the same panel.
Step 5: Add an image or button
Select an Image block to set its URL (or choose from your library), alt text, alignment, width, and layout (Contained or Full width). Select a Button block to set its text, destination URL, width, size (Xs–Lg), shape (Rectangle, Rounded, Pill), and colors.
Step 6: Set up your footer
Click Edit footer (or select the Footer block) to fill in Brand & contact details, company name, tagline, logo URL or upload, logo width, address, plus Links & legal for your privacy policy link. Choose between a Visual or Statement footer style.
Note: the Unsubscribe control and "Powered by Convert" mark always stay in the footer, these can't be removed, as they're required for reliable delivery.
Step 7: Review your personalization variables
Scroll to the Personalization variables panel at the bottom of the builder. Anything you wrote as {{name}} shows up here automatically, you can mark each one Required to send, set a default value (used if the field is left blank), and a sample value (used only in previews).
Step 8 Preview and create
Click the eye icon to preview your template, then click Create template (or Save changes if editing an existing one) to finish.
Creating WhatsApp or SMS templates
The process is similar but simpler, since there's no visual builder, just a message editor with a live phone preview. From Templates → WhatsApp + SMS, click to start a new one, choose a Message type (Transactional or Promotional), write your message (type {{ to personalize), and optionally attach an image. The Live preview panel shows exactly how it will render on WhatsApp or as an SMS as you type.
Using a template
Once saved, a template can be used in three places:
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In a campaign, select it from the Template dropdown when building a WhatsApp, SMS, or Email campaign
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Via the API, click Use via API on the template's detail page to copy its template ID and ready-made code snippets (cURL, Node, Python, PHP, Flutter, Go)
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Automatically, some system templates (like "Sender ID approved") send themselves when the relevant event happens
Checking template performance
Click into any template to see its detail page: the Template ID, total submissions, and full Analytics, recipients, sent, delivered, failed, opened, clicked, and unsubscribed, plus a Variables table showing which are required, and a Recipients section logging delivery activity for everyone the template's been sent to.
From here you can also Edit, Duplicate, or Delete the template.
Final checklist before using a template
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[ ] Template name clearly describes its purpose
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[ ] All personalization variables are reviewed — required ones are marked, and sensible defaults are set
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[ ] Footer brand details (company name, logo, contact info) are filled in correctly
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[ ] You've previewed the template before saving
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[ ] For WhatsApp/SMS: Message type (Transactional vs Promotional) matches what the message actually is
Common problems
A variable shows up literally (e.g. {{first_name}}) in a sent message: Check the Personalization variables panel; if it's marked Required but no value was supplied at send time and no default is set, this can happen. Add a default value to prevent it.
Can't remove the "Powered by Convert" footer mark: This is intentional and can't be turned off; it's part of what keeps delivery reliable.
Template shows 0 sends after creating it: This is normal until the template is actually used in a campaign or API call; check the Recipients section on the template's detail page after it's been sent at least once.
Image not showing in the email: Confirm the Image URL is a direct, publicly accessible link, or use Choose from library instead of pasting an external URL.
What's next
Once you have a solid set of templates, head back to Campaigns to put them to use, or explore the API docs if you want to trigger a template send directly from your own application